Shooting Upward: Backstop, "What's Beyond" & Ricochet

A squirrel sits at the very top of a bare oak, sharp against a blue sky — the easiest target you’ve seen all day. Your sights settle on it. Stop. Where does that bullet go if you miss, or if it passes through? Straight up and far away, to come down somewhere you cannot see. The single most important safety lesson in squirrel hunting is the one about shooting up.

Safety check

Quick recall from the Primer — what does the fourth firearm safety rule require before you fire?

Quick recall from the Primer — what does the fourth firearm safety rule require before you fire?

Be sure of your target and what's beyond and around it Treat the gun as unloaded once you've checked it Keep the safety on until the season opens

Check answer

The backstop is the whole game

This is the core skill of upward shooting: before the trigger, your eye checks not just the squirrel but what’s directly behind its head. Trunk or heavy limb = backstop = a shot you can consider. Sky = no backstop = pass.

”What’s beyond” goes straight up — and comes back down

A bullet fired skyward doesn’t vanish. A .22 can travel well over a mile and a larger round farther still; even falling under gravity alone, a bullet can return to earth with enough energy to injure or kill. You can’t see where it lands. That’s the trap of the skyline shot: it feels safe because there’s “nothing up there,” but “up there” connects to “back down” somewhere you can’t account for — a house, a road, a hunting partner one ridge over.

Deep dive Shot pellets fall too — but differently

A shotgun’s small pellets shed energy faster than a bullet and rain down over a wide area, so a single falling #6 pellet is far less dangerous than a falling .22 bullet. But “less dangerous” isn’t “safe”: a faceful of falling shot still hurts and can injure an eye, and a near-vertical shot still puts pellets down where you can’t see. The backstop and “know your zone” thinking applies to the shotgun too — you simply have a smaller, but not zero, hazard.

Wood ricochets — count on nothing glancing

It’s tempting to think a limb or trunk will safely “catch” a stray bullet. Wood is a poor, unpredictable backstop at an angle. A bullet striking a round trunk or a limb a hair off-center can glance off — ricochet — and travel in a direction you never intended. So the rule is two-sided: you want solid wood directly behind the squirrel as a backstop, but you never rely on grazing a limb to stop a shot, and you never shoot at a squirrel where the bullet would skip off angled wood toward people or buildings.

Against the trunk = backstop = shot to consider Skylined against open sky = no backstop = PASS

What would you do?

Decision

Late morning. A fat gray squirrel sits at the very top of a bare oak, skylined against open blue. It's a clean, still, perfectly visible target — but there's nothing behind its head except sky. What do you do?

Take it — it's a clear, easy shot Pass, and circle so the trunk is behind the squirrel Hold and wait to see if it moves to a backed limb

Check your understanding

Safety check

A squirrel is silhouetted against open sky at the top of a tree — a clear, still shot. With a .22, what's the call?

A squirrel is silhouetted against open sky at the top of a tree — a clear, still shot. With a .22, what's the call?

Pass — no backstop; the bullet would fly on for over a mile to unknown ground Take it — a treetop shot goes harmlessly up into the air Aim to graze a nearby limb so it stops the bullet

Check answer

Safety check

Why is a bullet glancing off a round tree limb a hazard, not a safety feature?

Why is a bullet glancing off a round tree limb a hazard, not a safety feature?

Angled wood deflects the bullet unpredictably, sending it off in a direction you didn't intend It doesn't — limbs always safely absorb a bullet

Check answer

Take it to the woods

The upward-shot safety check — every treetop shot, every time

0/5

Reset

• ⚠ Safety Solid wood (trunk or heavy limb) is directly behind the squirrel's head. Skyline = no backstop = no shot.
• ⚠ Safety I know what's beyond and around — and what's on the ground in that whole direction (homes, roads, partners).
• ⚠ Safety I'm not relying on grazing a limb to stop the bullet, and the shot won't skip off angled wood toward anyone.
• The squirrel is still and clearly seen — a real aim point.
• If any box above is unchecked, I pass and reposition. A pass is always the safe outcome.

Sources

• North American Outdoors — Before You Fire, Know Your Backstop. https://northamericanoutdoors.org/before-you-fire-know-your-backstop/
• NRA Family — 6 Terrible Shooting Practices to Avoid in the Backwoods. https://www.nrafamily.org/content/6-terrible-shooting-practices-to-avoid-in-the-backwoods/
• Texas Parks & Wildlife — Shooting Safety Rules. https://tpwd.texas.gov/education/hunter-education/shooting-safety-rules